I-Corps: Educational game based on research from Jurassic and current coral reefs

这个I-Corps项目更广泛的影响/商业潜力是在了解珊瑚礁如何在环境变化中生存的基础上开发一个教育游戏。 这款游戏是一个学习工具，可以通过真实世界的例子引导玩家完成进化和灭绝的过程。将科学与游戏相结合，鼓励通过协作和制定战略来积极学习。 目标是提高科学素养，鼓励参与保护。了解珊瑚礁如何对现实世界的情景（如游戏中所模拟的）做出反应，可以了解如何使用指导性保护，法律和补救措施来保护现代海洋社区。受过教育和参与的公众是保护的关键。移动的和计算机游戏的可访问性和流行性可能使它们的采用更容易和更愉快。大多数教育游戏都是针对幼儿销售的，或者专注于生物，化学或物理。 该技术将地球科学的原理和实例结合在一个精心设计、经过测试的游戏中，该游戏针对高中、大学和成人观众。这个I-Corps项目是基于开发一个教育地球科学的移动的、网络或电脑游戏，利用对生态系统如何在过去的环境变化中生存下来的理解。 协作学习和基于游戏的学习的好处已经得到了很好的确立，但很少有游戏纳入新的科学发现或概念。这款游戏的设计融合了地球科学、进化论和化石记录。拟议的教育电子游戏已经过测试，作为一个棋盘游戏，教玩家有关环境变化，珊瑚礁生态和进化机制，以及这些系统如何相互作用，导致重大的社区变化，随着时间的推移。游戏结合了环境，生物和气候变化的情况下，从研究侏罗纪时代的珊瑚礁在摩洛哥和珊瑚礁活着今天在牙买加。游戏和相关材料已在本科地球科学，海洋学，该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响评估，被认为值得支持的搜索.

The broader impact/commercial potential of this I-Corps project is the development of an educational game based on understanding how coral reefs survive environmental change. This proposed game is a learning tool that guides players through the processes of evolution and extinction using real-world examples. Integrating science with gaming encourages active learning via collaboration and strategizing. The goal is to increase scientific literacy and encourage engagement with conservation. Understanding how coral reefs might react to real-world scenarios (as modeled in a game) may provider an understanding of how modern ocean communities may be protected using guiding conservation, laws, and remediation. An educated and engaged public is key to conservation. The accessibility and popularity of mobile and computer games may make their adoption easier and more enjoyable. Most educational games are marketed towards young children or are focused on biology, chemistry, or physics. The proposed technology incorporates Earth science principles and examples in a well-designed, well-tested game aimed at high school, college, and adult audiences.This I-Corps project is based on the development of an educational Earth science mobile, web, or computer game using the understanding how ecosystems survived past environmental change. The benefits of collaborative learning and game-based learning have been well established, but very rarely do games incorporate new scientific discoveries or concepts. The proposed game is designed to incorporate Earth sciences, evolution, and the fossil record. The proposed educational electronic game has been tested as a board game that teaches the player about environmental change, reef ecology and evolutionary mechanisms as well as how these systems interact to cause major community change through time. The game incorporates environments, biotas, and climate change scenarios from research on Jurassic-aged reefs in Morocco and coral reefs alive today in Jamaica. The game and associated material have been assessed in undergraduate geoscience, oceanography, and biology classes and show the potential to teach students about coral reefs and how they change through time in response to their own evolution as well as environmental shifts on our planet.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.